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Friday, 23 September 2011

Out over Bleaklow and Kinder

I was there.

Went for a bit of a run today, the plan was to go up from Glossop onto Bleaklow, across the plateau to Grinah, then down south to Kinder and back along either the top or bottom depending on how I felt.
The vast majority of the run was going to be on bog, peat, marsh and generally squishy ground, so a perfect day out for the Inov8 Baregrips. I've been out in them on shorter runs, and a couple of races, but nothing really over 6-7 miles, so this could be an interesting day.

The weather was lovely this morning, so I just took a small backpack (osprey 5.5) with 2 litres of water (with a tab of High 5 Zero), 3 geobars, a mule bar (that I managed to blag, to see what it tasted like), the Montane H2O jacket, and an extra pair of gloves. (along with the normal bits and pieces that normally get taken)
The idea was to visit a few aircraft wrecks, some of which I've been to before, some which I haven't, check out some trods across the moor, and to test my legs out on a slightly longer run. I haven't done any long stuff since the 15 trigs back in July.

Skytrain

Lancaster plaque

Out from Glossop at about 10, slightly blowy, but I went on up Doctors gate at a speed that was a little ill-advised- perhaps remembering the Shelf moor race. I carried on up past where the route hangs a left up James Thorn, up, then down to the river, and up to the Skytrain in Ashton clough, which I hadn't been to before.

Then, a really vicious climb up to the Lancaster and plaque for both the wrecks. I didn't take a bearing, and just went for it, and came out bang on the wreck, which was pretty good going.

From there, I took the mildly circuitous route over to the Trig, (after the climb I really didn't want to peat bash immediately), then to Overexposed.

Herne stones

So far I had encountered 1 person with a dog on Shire hill, and 1 on a mountain bike coming down Doctors Gate.
Cross country to Herne Stones, then Bleaklow head. From here, I broke off East, following a trod that theoretically should have taken me straight across and over to Grinah (eventually). However, pretty soon I noticed that the path was trending somewhat northerly, and I ended up in the middle of Bleaklow with not much to see in any direction, going in the wrong direction. Nothing for it but to turn East and bash across the moor until I could see something useful.

The anvil/ Bike saddle

Eventually I saw the Anvil (sometimes called the saddle- it depends on your physical viewpoint, and whether you are a biker or not), and, at much the same time, found a trod that went in the right direction which became more and then less distinct as I ran along it. It was a nice change from stumbling around in groughs.

Lovely trod across to Grinah

The Anvil at Bleaklow stones is quite a landmark, and from there a fantastically fast and delightful trod took me direct to Grinah stones.
From here things got a little less easy. There appeared to be no trod directly south, so I tucked into my Mule bar- tastes a little more chewy than a geobar, but not much difference that I can see apart from the price- took a sighting across to Fairbrook naze on Kinder which I could see in the distance and made a beeline.

Over the moor- lots of heather- not so fun to run through, then down a clough and back up the other side, across, and then down into Alport clough and back up once more. The ups were very steep, and I think I need to get more of them into my legs- it just feels like a lot of one legged body weight squats for endurance.

The Path across the moor

The correct colour for Baregrips

Still, I wasn't feeling too bad by the time I got to the top, and again sighted for Fairbrook naze and went for it. Slow going over across the bog and heather, and at one point I thought I was going in a little off, so I hung up a little more southwesterly, hit the top of the rise and down into a clough that I was looking for that took me bang into Lady Clough. Perfect.

The Well

Getting a little tired going through the trees, and down to the bottom, then across the river and up onto Kinder. That was naaaaasty. I was stumbling up the hill, and really knackered. The idea was to hit the landrover track that we saw yesterday on our shroom walk. The going was pretty tough and I was not going fast. Eventually after a lot of heather bashing I found the track and went off West. It wasn't the best track to follow and at one point I went up to beyond my knee in a peat bog. It was a bit of a run/shuffle thing going on. By now I had eaten all my food and was running out of water- and bizarrely, craving haribo. Followed a trod across the bottom of the hill, and by chance came across a Well, with some beautifully clear water, and eventually, the Sabre wrecks. I figured that would happen. Its pretty flat down there, and wrecks of 2 planes are probably going to be obvious.

Sabre Wreck

Liberator

It took a long while to get up out of the valley, but I got to Mill Hill, down past the Liberator, across to Harry Hut and down into Glossop. The worst bit of the whole run was running along the Pennine way in Baregrips. Not a whole lot of fun.
Just about 20 miles in the end, all good fun, my feet held up in the Baregrips, very comfortable for the most part- except on rocky and rough terrain, navigation wasn't too bad. Just need to remember some haribo next time, and I'll be set!

Cold bath to relax out the legs, a smoothie with 2 bananas, chocolate milkshake powder, protein powder, milk and 2 teaspoons of crabapple jelly, and a huge feed this evening hopefully should see me right for not aching too much tomorrow...
I'd stick a link in with the garmin track, but the site is down at the moment.... have to do it some other time...

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Welcome to my blog. I don't get sent things to review, I buy what I think should work and I use it. There is no affiliation to any manufacturer and I gain no advantage from saying something is particularly good. Neither to I have qualms about pointing out shortcomings.
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